What's In A Name - A whole lot

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market.  This week I’d like to talk about a topic that was brought to my attention by a member of sustainable neighbors on Monday. I Have to preface this by saying the obvious, in horticulture the botanical Latin names of plants do occasionally change as new evidence sheds light on the origin of a species. Normally such changes occur without any real notice and for the most of us it’s no big deal. But the plant that just recently changed its scientific name is causing quite a stir. You would think this is a strange occurrence, gardeners up in arms, the Royal Horticultural Society being accused of meddling for no real benefit and the usual drama you’d expect when something has to change.

Rosemary – Salvia rosemarinus (formerly Rosemarinus officinalis)

 

Common Sage - Salvia officinalis

On the 22^nd of November the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in Britain, opted to change the scientific name of Rosemary from Rosemarinus officinalis to Salvia rosemarinus in light of studies done over the last five years that included mapping the plant’s genes and comparing them to the Sage family. This is one of the most high-profile plant name changes in a long time since Rosemary’s name has gone unchallenged since it got it in 1753. This change is pretty dramatic, as both the Sage genus (salvia) and the Rosemary genus (rosemarinus) are known already to be related as they are both in the Lamiaceae family which is commonly called the Mint Family. Believe it or not most of the herbs you use in cooking belong to just a handful of families, and in of that it’s not surprising that gene mapping will reveal closer family relations than we ever thought possible. I mean, Mint, Basil, Sage, Rosemary, Oregano, Agastache, Lavender, Catmint, Bee Balm, Marjoram, Cuban Oregano, Savory, Lemon Balm and, Thyme are all in the mint family and are all culinary herbs. All members of the mint family share just one common trait, square stems, this is how botanists and naturalists identified the plants before the internet, radio, or genetic testing. Another example is the Parsley or Carrot family which contains, Parsley, Carrots, Parsnips, Celerac, Celery, Dill, Fennel, Root Parsley, Anise, Chervil, Corriander/Cilantro, Cumin, Angelica and, Cicley. Ironically there wasn’t much a fuss when the name of this family changed from Umbelliferae to Apiaceae roughly around 2003 officially. I remember this change, because I first learned the scientific name of the parsley family and thought, ‘Hey, this word sounds like the word umbrella, and their flowers kind of look like an umbrella too…this makes sense!”  Then it changed and at the time I couldn’t figure out what the new name came from, well it turns out that Pliny the Elder named the plants Apium back in 50 CE. This was the first of a few name changes I would encounter in my Horticultural career. 

English Lavender ' Phenomenal' - Lavendula angustifolia 'Phenomenal'

You see, a few short years after that, the name of a common beloved garden annual changed. Somewhere in the mid-2000’s Coleus, that part-shade, foliage color-based plant with slightly minty smelling sap got added to the Plectranthus genus. What we once knew as Coleus species now became Solenostemon scutellarioides, talk about a mouthful, writing all that was painful. But it doesn’t end there, the former annual betting plants got another name change sometime recently and apparently are now Plectranthus scutellarioides, right, that is so much better! Yeah you see, the lovely betting plant we know as coleus, has had two name changes in twenty years and now it’s in a genus that a bunch of you have never heard of, right? Wrong, Plectranthus is still in the Mint family, and it’s two most famous existing members are Plectranthus amboinicus which is better known as Cuban Oregano. The most famous member of the Genus is Plectranthus verticillatus, or Swedish Ivy, the succulent houseplant.

 

Cuban Oregano – Plectranthus amboinicus ‘Cerveza and Lime’

Variegated Cuban Oregano – Plectranthus amboinicus ‘Variegatus’

Getting back to the point here, the Rosemary thing isn’t a big deal, it’s still in the mint family, and honestly, it’s growing habits are a lot like a sage except geared for tolerating heat. Its similarly slow growing, super aromatic and without it; certain dishes would be bland and pointless. Ok, I admit Salvia rosemarinus is interesting to say, but it rolls off the tongue with no losses in the suave and sophisticated departments. Roll some r’s maybe toss on an accent and bam, your sounding like the most cultured person in the room saying normal botanical Latin names. Now if only some bored horticulturist with too much grant money would genetically cross the two and make me some darn Sagemary, I’d buy THAT for a dollar! Now, the study that prompted the name change to rosemary is included below and as always I’d love to hear what you readers think.

Here’s the paper covering the name change:

http://sytsma.botany.wisc.edu/pdf/Drew%202017%20Taxon.pdf

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

Plants & Stuff Available Now:

All the Stuff:

Soup Kits: $6.00

Seasoning Packets: $2.00

Ginger, 4oz Packet: $2.00

Pepper Packets: $2.00

Garlic, Whole Bulb: $1.00

Vegetables:

Kale, Siberian: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Dinosaur: 3” - $3.00

Swiss Chard: 3” - $3.00

Houseplants & Annuals:

Kalanchoe: 4.5” - $4.00

Coming Soon:

TBA

These days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions then I will be there to answer your questions. Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you can come on in ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

                        This brings to a close the twenty-fourth LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 13^th of December. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.

Things do happen

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market. This episode will be cut short, in that last storm one of the pine trees at the test gardens came down. Thankfully the damage is not too terrible, but it’s going to be an interesting clean up project. Some would view this situation as a bad thing, I see it as an opportunity, the area where the tree came down was overgrown, and really needed a clearing. Also, perhaps once the clearing is completed maybe some new garden beds can be established back there. With that said I have some photos of the downed tree, and some interesting garden photos. 

So, let me talk about that downed tree for a moment. The tree actually had been dead for a few years and I did little about it because it was a thirty-foot tall pine that realistically I had no tools to handle. I did clean up whatever fell off it  but it was in an area bordering the old woodland garden which I had only begun to clean up and recover this year. At about 6pm on Saturday the 16th during some of that high wind gust activity with the rain and such I heard a series of loud cracking noises and cringed waiting for the secondary sound no one ever wants to hear, a loud thump followed by shaking of the house. You see trees dont fall quietly, the cracking is their branches shearing off, and the thump is them hitting the ground, any other sound with that means they hit a structure and that is the worst kind of sound.When the rain east off a little an hour or so later I ventured out to assess damage thinking "please dont let it be one of the hundred footers....please not the two crooked ones..." and at first I could not tell what fell. I looked at the two crooked trees and could not see anything but a few two-inch caliper branches had snapped off. No biggie, I looked at the other trees, and the same was true, small stuff, no big deal, and then I saw the downed tree in the photographs, the dead tree had snapped at about ten feet up and came down in three pieces of trunk. It's bulk landed roughly in the path behind the crescent bed but some of it's smaller parts fell on and around the old woodland garden beds and on a rare specimen plant in the woodland gardens. That specimen is a Coastal Doghobble ( Leucothoe axillaris ), that plant was the single most successful thing planted in the woodland gardens, and the first non-food producing shrub planted on the property back in 2009. Its a rare plant because you virtually never see them in nurseries, something about how they are kind of bland, yet make an incredible living screen that gets up to seven feet tall. Well anyway, it's a big mess, but thankfully nothing irreplaceable was destroyed or damaged.

This was the top few feet of the tree.

the largest section of trunk.

The trunk ended up landing mostly on the path between the rear of the crescent bed and the old woodland garden.

I know it's not clear, but about ten feet of the tree remains upright.

 

A different angle on the same thing but with the downed tree in the picture.

With all that tree damage covered,  for the first time I managed to snap several pictures of plants that were actively being frosted by cold weather. All of the following photos were taken late at night with the flash on during the frost on the 10th of November. These same plants shrugged off the two days of 25 degree frost we got on the 12th and 13th.  There is a certain level of beauty to the silvery glazing some of the plants got. While I have discussed the mechanism by which cabbage family plants counter freezing damage, the fact is that they also counter it in the same way they counter overheating and dehydration, wilting.

Frost on Dino Kale, and Scotch Blue Kale.

Frost on Collards.

More different frost on Siberian Kale and red giant mustard.

More frosted winter greens.

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

Plants & Stuff Available Now:

All the Stuff:

Soup Kits: $6.00

Seasoning Packets: $2.00

Ginger, 4oz Packet: $2.00

Vegetables:

Collards, Green Glaze: 3” - $3.00

Mustard, Japanese Red Giant: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Scotch Blue Curled: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Dinosaur: 3” - $3.00

Swiss Chard: 3” - $3.00

Houseplants & Annuals:

Polka-Dot Plants: 6” - $5.00

Kalanchoe: 4.5” - $4.00

Coming Soon:

Whole Garlic

These days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions then I will be there to answer your questions. Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you can come on in ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

                        This brings to a close the twenty-third LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 29^th of November. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.